UK - Treasury Select Committee grills LBO representatives

Four representatives from the world's biggest buyout firms answered to a group of MPs at today's Treasury Select Committee. Whatever they felt privately about being made to account for the industry, publicly, the hearing was welcomed. "It's very important for us to get on the front foot and explain the benefits of the industry," commented 3i's Philip Yea. The panel were unflappable on the issue of employment, trade unionist's main gripe. The dead silence which followed a question about how much tax they actually pay as investment directors, taking into account different vehicles and tax domiciles, however, was telling. The debate heated up when the deal-doers were forced to defend cov-lite loans. "Everyone else I have spoken to believes cov-lite loans to be a bad thing apart from you four," remarked one MP.